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DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER : Tutorials, directions and information that I share on this blog are for your personal reference. Use of this information is at your own risk. I am not providing medical, legal or other professional advice on this blog.

No personal information of yours will be sold or given to anyone {person or company} without your express permission {in case of winning a giveaway}. I reserve the right to post on whatever topic{s} I would like, and to change the focus of this blog as time goes by.

I do receive money and/or products from some of the companies mentioned on this site. Disclosure of what type of compensation I have received is disclosed in the specific posts. Any money/products I receive help justify the hours I pour into this blog, and help me keep the family budget balanced. Any questions about the above info can be sent to me at SpunkyDiva at live.com. ~Kimberlee

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Thursday, September 30, 2010

They are sending my $3.79 directly to my PayPal account. So simple, so easy! I got to the threshold amount by winning one of their $2 drawings that they have every four hours. You don't get a lot of cash doing the surveys, but they are short and it does add up. Check it out by clicking on the widget below.

We will have to wait and see how long it takes me to get my next chunk of change, LOL!

I got in four books at one time to review, and then a fifth one showed up! I am certainly set for reading material on my trip. Here is what I have in. I expect to have all the reviews posted by the end of October. Wish me luck!

I just finished reading Masquerade by Nancy Moser. The unofficial review is that it was a wonderful read. Here is the link to it's page with Bethany House Publishers: Masquerade

Now I am reading Loves First Bloom by Delia Parr. Published by Bethany House Publishers.

Then the next three I have to read are:The Vigilante's Bride, by Yvonne Harris; published by Bethany House PublishersCity on Our Knees, by Toby Mac; published by Bethany House Publishersand (one I was very excited to receive!)Out Live Your Life, by Max Lucado; published by Thomas Nelson

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Welcome to Treasury Thursday! The link party where you can check out a variety of fun and diverse treasuries created on Etsy. Treasuries are a snap shot of what is available from various crafters and artists that sell their items on Etsy. The theme can be color, holiday, sport, etc. Each treasury contains between 12 and 16 items that a person (Etsian) puts together to show the theme their choice. The most coveted goal when creating a treasury is to have your treasury selected to be on the front page of Etsy.

- Link up a treasury you have created or were featured in.- Linking up multiple treasuries is encouraged. - Visit and comment on at least two other treasuries. - Give hearts to any favorite item you find! - Share the love and spread the word by adding the Treasury Thursday button on your blog, or in a blog post.

You do not need to have a blog to participate in this link party.

Linky Directions:Add the direct link/web address to your treasury.Enter the name of the treasury as the explanation.Select a 'photo from the web' and pick a photo of one of the items in the treasury.

Hi friends! I'm Monika Wright and I'm thrilled to be here to share a tutorial with The Spunky Diva today. One of my most favorite things is crafting. Crafting home decor, gifts, mini albums as well as lots scrapbook layouts fill my days. I host a blog called I Love It All; to share my love of all things crafty with blog readers and an Etsy shop by the same name, i love it all, to share my love of crafty things with people who support the 'buy handmade' frame of mind.

I had to chuckle to myself when I first found The Spunky Diva blog, as Spunky is the nickname of our youngest daughter. And, she is FULL.OF.LIFE. I suspect when her teen years arrive, she might be a Diva, too!

I hope you enjoy this tutorial, it has so many possibilities..as teacher gifts, stocking stuffers, as well as friends and family gifts. If you have any questions at all about this address book tutorial, I have an "e-mail me" button on the sidebar in my blog if you need to contact me. Have fun crafting!

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This DIY address book was a project that I featured during my guest blogging week at SEI Lifestyles last week. I offered to post the free address book pages download on my blog this week if there was any interest from the post...and there was! I'm so happy to share these with you today.

Okay, now that you've downloaded your address book pages, you'll need to decide what size your address book will be. I decided upon a 6"x6" size, since I was using the SEI paper pads. When I designed the pages, I left plenty of room to use binder rings, ball chain, ribbon, Bind-it-All o-wires or even a stapler to bind it all together.

Assuming you've decided your album will be 6"x6" also, your first cut will be at 5.75" if you're printing on an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper. Then rotate the page so that your next cut {between the two page templates} will be at 5.50".

I didn't use alphabetical tabs in my address book, but I think that would be a great idea. They would be so cute peeking out of the top of the book!

To create my address book, I used one of my favorite tools ever...the the Bind-it-All by Zutter. For the ribbon bow you see, I tied a knot around the rhinestone brad before inserting it through my pierced hole.

And you're finished. So easy, so cute and so useful. How often does that happen all in one sentence?

If you'd like to know how to use those long strips of paper we had from our first cut, click hereto see another DIY idea!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

I found this widget on Nikki's blog, at The Best Part of Believe. This will make you realize that it is almost October, and Christmas is almost here!!!!! Do you have your gift list made up? I sure don't. I am still trying to figure out what to do for a turning the big "1" part for Ms. Diva. Luckily she won't remember it at all, LOL!

Guess this is my wake-up call that I need to at least get a list going, so I can order special items if I want to. It is always hard to get custom items done Christmas Eve, LOL!

Monday, September 27, 2010

My name is Sarah. I live in Southern Utah. I have been married for 6 years and have a daughter (4) and son (1). I was a HUGE scrapbooker for over 10 years. I had thousands of dollars worth of stuff and found that life was getting too busy to spend hours creating one scrapbook page that could only be used once, so I went digital. I love the freedom and endless options, and even more that my hours of work can be reused. After mastering photoshop for scrapbooking, I transitioned into designing photo templates- albums, collages, storyboards, baby announcements, Christmas cards, marketing templates, etc. etc. I love creating and knowing that I am saving others time and work while helping them 'tale' their stories.

Here are some of the great items avalable in Sarah's store:

Link up your shop to have a chance to be our Feature Shop next week!

Etsy Tuesday Rules: 1. Link up your Etsy shop, and choose a picture of your favorite item to share.2. Visit the shop before and after you on the list, and send them a convo about an item you like in their shop.3. Visit as many shops as you want, and give them a heart if you wish!

How comfortable with sewing are you? Would you like to a quick and easy project that you can do yourself to create a window valance/ruffle out of any fabric you find? Here you go! There are only three lines of stitching in this project. Very little measuring, and gorgeous results.

This project actually started almost two years ago, when I painted our current kitchen a pale ice blue we had left over from painting a bedroom. To try something different, I painted the ceiling of the kitchen a deep, high-gloss navy. You can see just a little bit of the ceiling in the finished curtain picture below. As much as I adore the contrast in the paint colors, trying to find a ready made curtain for the kitchen has proven impossible. Lots of kitchen curtains are to frilly, not the right color, too white, so on and so forth. Did I mention too expensive?

So, when I brought home this fabric from Sewing Club and was trying to figure out what 'it' wanted to be, I decided it would be perfect for my Mom's kitchen. She didn't love it as much as I did, and then... I figured out it would be a great fabric for MY kitchen! Yes, sometimes it does take an extra time around the block for me to figure something out, LOL!

With my trip the end of this week I needed to make this project quickly, and with the minimum of measuring. And since straight lines are not my forte, a design that does not rely on those would be fabulous. Here is the tutorial based on my quick project. It took me about one hour, including breaks for Ms. Diva, to complete.

Ingrediants:

- Piece of fabric, selvage to selvage (the edges of the fabric that feel thicker and don't fray) The piece I used was 3/4 of a yard, 44" wide.

- Coordinating Thread, bobbin loaded with same or matching thread

- Spring loaded curtain rod (These are awesome! Under $10, they fit in any window opening or between cabinets like I used here.)

- Something to measure with that is stiff.

- Pinking shears, great for many projects as using them keeps fabric from fraying.

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Before beginning your sewing, wash and dry your fabric with your normal laundry. This way you can just take down the curtain and throw it in the wash when you are doing your Spring/Fall cleaning. You won't have to worry about the fabric shrinking or drying 'weird'.

Start by ironing out your fabric. Starting every project with freshly ironed fabric will give you better results.

Match up the rough edges (the ones that are fraying) and sew together with the 'right sides' together (the bright side of the fabric). Sew using the standard straight machine comes with. If you want to, you can lengthen your stitch to 3.0 mm.

After you finish the first 'seam', trim the excess using your pinking shears. Cut the excess to about 1/4" from the seam. By using the pinking shears the fabric won't continue to fray when you wash it in the future.

Next we want to iron out the seam. At this point you don't want to press any lines into the fabric you don't have to. The trick to ironing one seam for a tube, without pressing all the edges is to line up your seam down the 'middle' of the tube. Iron the seam, pressing the fabric edge in one direction (left or right). Pull the fabric from both sides of the seam to make sure the fabric is smooth.

Turn the fabric tube inside out. Move the seam until it is about 6 inches from the top edge of the tube. Now iron both edges. Try to keep the seam the same distance from the top edge along the entire length. Perfection isn't necessary, but the straighter the better.

Looking at the plate of your sewing machine, most machines will have a mark showing 1" from the needle position. Line up the top edge of your fabric at that line, and start stitching using the same straight stitch you used earlier. (this is the one step I didn't get a photo of, ugh!!!)

Grab the curtain rod you are using. The one I used is about 3/4" wide. So, I measured 1.5" from the line I just stitched. Make sure it will work with your rod by laying them out with the rod on top. Then line up the fabric under the sewing maching foot, and see if your machine has another handy mark to use to line up your fabric while stitching.

If your machine does not have a mark, you can add a temporay line by placing a strip of tape, and marking your line with a sharpie. Make sure the sharpie has completly dried before you place your fabric back under the sewing machine foot.

Then stitch your last seam keeping your fabric lined up with the mark.

Thread the finished curtain onto the curtain rod, and you are ready to place your newly finished, completly gorgeous curtain!

Here is what I ended up doing with that fantastic fabric I brought home from Sewing Club. Now, I need to go back and grab the other cutting to make a second curtain, LOL! Don't worry I took tons of pictures, and will be posting the tutorial on how to make this Quick and Easy Curtain tomorrow.

I got tons of cleaning done, but not as much sewing as I was hoping.

Clean Kitchen - Check

Vacuum and Wash Floors - Check, I even vacuumed all the doors and ceiling fans.

Get Laundry Done - Not only done, but put away too!

Sweep off Porch - Check

Do something with rugs - Took them all outside and hosed them down.

Here are some great photos of Ms. Diva from Sunday:

Enjoying some cherrios.

Look Grandpa has the camera out. What a ham!

I must wave to the camera. Two hands is much better than just one handed waves.

Chasing down the duckie.

Remember to check in tomorrow for the Quick Curtain Tutorial and Etsy Tuesday!